The Art of Spoken Word Poetry


Book Description

Helpful tools, tips, and techniques that can improve your spoken word poetry performance.The goal of this book is to provide a "How to" guide with principles that can be used to improve content and stage performance. This book doesn't come with the promise of making you a great spoken word artist or the experience of a world famous poet. Instead it provides tools, examples of techniques and it offers tips, which if practiced correctly, can improve your confidence, focus and execution. Every artist comes equipped with their own amount of creativity, imagination and inspiration. Storytelling is a big part of spoken word poetry as well, but if you are not able to tell that story or relay a message clearly to people then there might as well be no one listening. By utilizing examples from the P-Arts (Performing Arts) program and workshop courses that have been implemented in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles and San Diego area of Southern California through DM Ink Publishing. You will be able to apply the same techniques which have helped many spoken word artist and poets to develop and improve their skill. I've spent years performing, writing, reading, listening and publishing spoken word poetry. With three published spoken word poetry paper back and E-Books as well as two spoken word albums available internationally it has been a great learning experience. As a fan, an artist and facilitator of workshops I can relate to the frustration of having a good performance piece and not being able to get the message through to the audience. Or being nervous and not having any prior training or years of experience that would assist with speaking in a small or large venue. By incorporating a few tips used by spoken word poet professionals, readers will find this book will-Provide helpful tips of structuring the content to your piece so that it flows. -Go over various spoken word techniques.-Provide tools to improve your delivery. The areas of focus covered are just a few pieces to a larger puzzle in the areas of communication and writing that could benefit an aspiring spoken word artist. This book has been used in performing arts workshops and the tools have been successfully applied during performances and network writing sessions. Principles are universal and I'm not saying that every artist needs to adapt these tips in order to be considered great, because in the spoken word poetry market everyone is unique, or at least they should be. Each person has a story to tell and it can have a powerful effect depending on how the writer delivers it.




The Art of the Spoken Word


Book Description

The Art of the Spoken Word by Tobias Matthay: The Art of the Spoken Word by Tobias Matthay is a comprehensive guide that explores the principles and techniques of effective public speaking and oratory. Drawing from his expertise as a renowned music educator, Matthay offers valuable insights on voice production, diction, expression, and stage presence. Key Points: Vocal Technique: Matthay delves into the intricacies of vocal technique, providing practical exercises and guidance to improve voice production, articulation, and resonance. He offers valuable insights on breath control, vocal range, and the nuances of tone and timbre. Expression and Communication: The book emphasizes the importance of effective communication in public speaking. Matthay explores methods to convey emotions, capture the attention of the audience, and deliver messages with clarity and impact. Integration of Music Principles: As a music educator, Matthay brings a unique perspective to the art of spoken word. He draws parallels between music and oratory, incorporating musical concepts such as rhythm, phrasing, and dynamics to enhance the expressiveness of spoken language.







The Spoken Word


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The Spoken Word


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Speaking Truths


Book Description

The twenty-first century is already riddled with protests demanding social justice, and in every instance, young people are leading the charge. But in addition to protesters who take to the streets with handmade placards are young adults who engage in less obvious change-making tactics. In Speaking Truths, sociologist Valerie Chepp goes behind-the-scenes to uncover how spoken word poetry—and young people’s participation in it—contributes to a broader understanding of contemporary social justice activism, including this generation’s attention to the political importance of identity, well-being, and love. Drawing upon detailed observations and in-depth interviews, Chepp tells the story of a diverse group of young adults from Washington, D.C. who use spoken word to create a more just and equitable world. Outlining the contours of this approach, she interrogates spoken word activism’s emphasis on personal storytelling and “truth,” the strategic uses of aesthetics and emotions to politically engage across difference, and the significance of healing in sustainable movements for change. Weaving together their poetry and personally told stories, Chepp shows how poets tap into the beautiful, emotional, personal, and therapeutic features of spoken word to empathically connect with others, advance intersectional and systemic analyses of inequality, and make social justice messages relatable across a diverse public. By creating allies and forging connections based on friendship, professional commitments, lived experiences, emotions, artistic kinship, and political views, this activist approach is highly integrated into the everyday lives of its practitioners, online and face-to-face. Chepp argues that spoken word activism is a product of, and a call to action against, the neoliberal era in which poets have come of age, characterized by widening structural inequalities and increasing economic and social vulnerability. She illustrates how this deeply personal and intimate activist approach borrows from, builds upon, and diverges from previous social movement paradigms. Spotlighting the complexity and mutual influence of modern-day activism and the world in which it unfolds, Speaking Truths contributes to our understanding of contemporary social change-making and how neoliberalism has shaped this political generation’s experiences with social injustice.




The Cambridge Companion to Twenty-First-Century American Poetry


Book Description

A new poetic century demands a new set of approaches. This Companion shows that American poetry of the twenty-first century, while having important continuities with the poetry of the previous century, takes place in new modes and contexts that require new critical paradigms. Offering a comprehensive introduction to studying the poetry of the new century, this collection highlights the new, multiple centers of gravity that characterize American poetry today. Essays on African American, Asian American, Latinx, and Indigenous poetries respond to the centrality of issues of race and indigeneity in contemporary American discourse. Other essays explore poetry and feminism, poetry and disability, and queer poetics. The environment, capitalism, and war emerge as poetic preoccupations, alongside a range of styles from spoken word to the avant-garde, and an examination of poetry's place in the creative writing era.




Spoken Word in the UK


Book Description

Spoken Word in the UK is a comprehensive and in-depth introduction to spoken word performance in the UK – its origins and development, its performers and audiences, and the vast array of different styles and characteristics that make it unique. Drawing together a wide range of authors including scholars, critics, and practitioners, each chapter gives a new perspective on performance poetics. The six sections of the book cover the essential elements of understanding the form and discuss how this key aspect of contemporary performance can be analysed stylistically, how its development fits into the context of performance in the UK, the ways in which its performers reach and engage with their audiences, and its place in the education system. Each chapter is a case study of one key aspect, example, or context of spoken word performance, combining to make the most wide-ranging account of this form of performance currently available. This is a crucial and ground-breaking companion for those studying or teaching spoken word performance, as well as scholars and researchers across the fields of theatre and performance studies, literary studies, and cultural studies.







Integrating the Arts in Language Arts: 30 Strategies to Create Dynamic Lessons, 2nd Edition


Book Description

Use the arts to inspire, engage, and motivate students in language arts class! This book provides meaningful strategies to help teachers integrate creative movement, drama, music, poetry, storytelling, and visual arts in language arts topics. These teacher-friendly strategies bring language arts to life while building students’ creativity and critical thinking skills.